Aquabear
Contributor
Puerto Rico Dive Trip Report Nov 09
My wife and I just came back from a trip to Puerto Rico which had some smiles and some . well read and youll see. Dived in 2 spots - Desecho Island and Crash Boat Beach.
Stayed in Auqarius Boqueron Beach. Nice place.
Visited Cabo Rojo lighthouse, beautiful. Saw the salt flats with their red/pink color. Next time there will bring lunch to explore more and swim at the beach.
Sunday Nov 22 2009 Desecho Island WOW. What a great place. 13 miles/45 min ride off PR. Waves were not bad at all to/from to island but rough seas can cancel a trip. We used Taino Divers man they are a fun group theyre def on island time and it happily  is contagious. Boat had 10 divers, gave ok dive brief, no head, no cabin, clean, radio, emergency gear, double hull. Def a more independent diver boat than others but were ok with that. Viz was an easy 150 almost surreal clear, clean and blue. Strong healthy and beautiful hard and soft corals, amazing, exactly what I had been dreaming it would be. Lots of typical marine coral garden life brain coral, barrel sponges. Swim thru caves, turtles, blennies. So glad we had our camera and housing. One site was candyland I believe. Check out the blue water pics.
Monday Nov 23 2009 am. Playa Crash Boat (beach) Shore dive. Rented gear from PRTDC- PR Technical Dive Center Welcome to PRTDC from Brenda. Friendly, courteous, great dive advice, shore dive site knowledge and even assisted us with booking other dives such as The Wall at Parguera with a guide she referred. Cant say enough good things about her. I had been there 4 years ago in March snorkeling and it was beautiful, I knew I would be back to dive here one day. The water clarity was amazing last time maybe 50-60 viz but now it was 15-20 viz. The barrel sponges are HUGE, good amount of sea life, one moray small size, hundreds of fireworms and more. Current was mild so had to be careful to not get pushed into the pilings but otherwise was ok. All was covered in silt so colors were muted. Def need navigation skills here as each group of pilings cannot be seen due to low viz. Beach was empty the Monday before thanksgiving. Long bottom time over an hour as depth was about 20-30 and still hit beach with 1000 psi.
Monday Nov 23 2009 about 4pm. Playa Jobos (beach) Heres where all hell broke loose. The lava rock jetty in front of the beach is deadly not dangerous. A small sign before the rocks says Peligroso but thats an understatement. DO NOT GO OUT ONTO THESE ROCKS THE WAVES ARE VERY DECEIVING. My wife and I started walking carefully on the spearhead sharp rocks when after a minute being there a huge over the rocks wave hit us. It knocked her down about 4 with some bumps, bruises and one long laceration but she said the wave took 20-25 hitting every rock along the way. The people on the beach all said they thought I was dead. They were wrong but they were the best good Samaritans you would want in an emergency situation. Thankfully some knew first aid, some military training in medical emergencies they saved me from bleeding to death. Thank you strangers on the beach and thanks to that little eboy and mom for their prayers. End result, over 200 stitches, 40 staples, deep torn muscle tissue in thigh, 1.5x7 laceration down to the bone on left shin sprained shin with torn tendons, 3 fractures in left hand/thumb plus dislocated middle finger in left hand. Look at the pics to really see it all. Had to be Med Evac due to serevity of condition to Stony Brook University Trauma center back home in NY. It was that or San Juan, Id rather be closer to home. Thankfully my wife is an Insurance Consultant so the $40,000 medevac was covered by Ins.
Now still recovering at home. Hospital bed on main floor, daily home nursing, whirlpool wound treatment, multiple surgeons Ortho, Plastics, Trauma its all a mouthful but Im alive!
My wife and I just came back from a trip to Puerto Rico which had some smiles and some . well read and youll see. Dived in 2 spots - Desecho Island and Crash Boat Beach.
Stayed in Auqarius Boqueron Beach. Nice place.
Visited Cabo Rojo lighthouse, beautiful. Saw the salt flats with their red/pink color. Next time there will bring lunch to explore more and swim at the beach.
Sunday Nov 22 2009 Desecho Island WOW. What a great place. 13 miles/45 min ride off PR. Waves were not bad at all to/from to island but rough seas can cancel a trip. We used Taino Divers man they are a fun group theyre def on island time and it happily  is contagious. Boat had 10 divers, gave ok dive brief, no head, no cabin, clean, radio, emergency gear, double hull. Def a more independent diver boat than others but were ok with that. Viz was an easy 150 almost surreal clear, clean and blue. Strong healthy and beautiful hard and soft corals, amazing, exactly what I had been dreaming it would be. Lots of typical marine coral garden life brain coral, barrel sponges. Swim thru caves, turtles, blennies. So glad we had our camera and housing. One site was candyland I believe. Check out the blue water pics.
Monday Nov 23 2009 am. Playa Crash Boat (beach) Shore dive. Rented gear from PRTDC- PR Technical Dive Center Welcome to PRTDC from Brenda. Friendly, courteous, great dive advice, shore dive site knowledge and even assisted us with booking other dives such as The Wall at Parguera with a guide she referred. Cant say enough good things about her. I had been there 4 years ago in March snorkeling and it was beautiful, I knew I would be back to dive here one day. The water clarity was amazing last time maybe 50-60 viz but now it was 15-20 viz. The barrel sponges are HUGE, good amount of sea life, one moray small size, hundreds of fireworms and more. Current was mild so had to be careful to not get pushed into the pilings but otherwise was ok. All was covered in silt so colors were muted. Def need navigation skills here as each group of pilings cannot be seen due to low viz. Beach was empty the Monday before thanksgiving. Long bottom time over an hour as depth was about 20-30 and still hit beach with 1000 psi.
Monday Nov 23 2009 about 4pm. Playa Jobos (beach) Heres where all hell broke loose. The lava rock jetty in front of the beach is deadly not dangerous. A small sign before the rocks says Peligroso but thats an understatement. DO NOT GO OUT ONTO THESE ROCKS THE WAVES ARE VERY DECEIVING. My wife and I started walking carefully on the spearhead sharp rocks when after a minute being there a huge over the rocks wave hit us. It knocked her down about 4 with some bumps, bruises and one long laceration but she said the wave took 20-25 hitting every rock along the way. The people on the beach all said they thought I was dead. They were wrong but they were the best good Samaritans you would want in an emergency situation. Thankfully some knew first aid, some military training in medical emergencies they saved me from bleeding to death. Thank you strangers on the beach and thanks to that little eboy and mom for their prayers. End result, over 200 stitches, 40 staples, deep torn muscle tissue in thigh, 1.5x7 laceration down to the bone on left shin sprained shin with torn tendons, 3 fractures in left hand/thumb plus dislocated middle finger in left hand. Look at the pics to really see it all. Had to be Med Evac due to serevity of condition to Stony Brook University Trauma center back home in NY. It was that or San Juan, Id rather be closer to home. Thankfully my wife is an Insurance Consultant so the $40,000 medevac was covered by Ins.
Now still recovering at home. Hospital bed on main floor, daily home nursing, whirlpool wound treatment, multiple surgeons Ortho, Plastics, Trauma its all a mouthful but Im alive!
. Slowly healing, but am heart and head strong about a full recovery. Happy Holidays to you all.
